Gone is the Sun
by Animal Arithmetic
Summary: Naruto hated the sound of crying babies. What was worse, though, was the sound Sakura made to calm that brat down. Just a simple mission gone awry.


A/N: Er... I threw this together in about two hours... Gotta have something to remind you guys that I am alive, right? Hehe... Right... Gah, short, but... And, no, there are no follow-up chapters with this.

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Naruto glared at the baby for the hundredth time that night. It just would not _shut up!_ First he had lost his supplies in a scuffle, then his teammate had dropped _her_ supplies, then it started raining...

And then that stupid baby started crying.

Let's back up a little, shall we? This day had started out as a **normal** day with training in the morning and reporting to Baa-chan after a healthy filling of ramen.

But that was when the normal-ness of the day ended.

"You need to deliver this baby to her relatives in the Eart Country," Tsunade had said. "This is an A-rank mission because of how important this baby is. Her cousin is the daimyo."

Both Naruto and Sakura looked down at the bundle in Shizune's arms. It looked so tiny and... and _pink_. Naruto glanced at Sakura, and she stared right back at him.

"Right..." Naruto mumbled as Shizune transferred the baby to his arms. "This won't fail at all."

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, stealing the baby away from him. "You aren't holding her right!"

He just rolled his eyes back at her. "Right. How about you carry the baby and I defend you two. Deal?"

She nodded as Tsunade handed the teen an envelope. "Just follow these directions, and you shouldn't have a problem getting there."

Right. Those had been in his pack, which he had lost.

_Great_.

The cries increased in volume- shouldn't that be impossible?- and the rain increased. Naruto looked over at his companion to see her struggling to shush the baby and keep it from being wet. Though he didn't want to, he took off his orange and black jacket and draped it over his partner. He was numb instantly, but a faint amount of Kyuubi's chakra under the surface of his skin would keep him warm.

Sakura beamed up at Naruto as the jacket provided a little warmth for the two girls and kept them a little more dry.

Yet the baby still cried.

Naruto silently guided the two to a cave he had spotted, sending a clone before they headed in to make sure there were no bears or other dangerous occupants in it first. Once the coast was clear, he led the two into the cave. He frowned as he realized that he had _absolutely nothing_ to help Sakura and the baby be comfortable in this wet cave.

"Take off your shirt," Sakura ordered as she wrung out the water from the jacket away from the baby. "You can't get sick right now."

Slightly embarrassed, Naruto did as he was told, wringing the water from his dark shirt after prying it from his skin. He turned to see Sakura had taken her shirt off as well, with just a thin red tank-top covering her torso.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the teen and picked the baby up. "Don't be that way, Naruto. We are almost twenty; start acting like it."

She was right, he reasoned, though he still turned away. Now how to stop that baby from crying...

An idea struck him, then, and he quickly gathered his jacket to search through the inside pockets. He eventually found what he had been searching for and pulled out a small green scroll. "Ah ha!" he announced, throwing the sopping jacket back down. The blond quickly bit his thumb, spreading the blood on the seal, and threw the scroll on the ground as a cloud of smoke appeared. Once it had dissipated, an orange blanket rested on the ground, covering the scroll. He quickly picked it up and arranged it so Sakura and the baby would be comfortable.

"There," he said once he finished. "Now I'll go try to find some firewood and get a fire going in here, okay?"

He left before she could say anything. She rolled his eyes again at this stupidity.

"He'll find out himse-" she tried to tell the baby, before a surprised scream interrupted her. The bubble-gum haired young woman chuckled at her teammate as she settled down on the blanket. "Stupid boys, right, Kichi-chan?"

"Why does rain have to be so _cold?_" Naruto grumbled as he looked for dry enough wood. He really had only found twigs, but they could be enough for now.

His black sandals squished as he walked through puddles of water and mud, looking for the wood he needed. A sigh escaped past his soft pink lips as he finally found a decent branch that he could break up back in the cave.

Quickly, because of the cold, he returned to the cave to see that the baby was _still_ crying. "Can't you get that thing to shut up?" he asked as he threw down the twigs. He watched as they scattered away from him.

Sakura glared back at him, her green eyes glinting dangerously. "I don't see you helping."

"What do you call the blanket, then?!"

"You lost our supplies!"

"So did you!"

The baby screamed louder as their accusations grew louder, causing both to stop immediately.

"I-"

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted, breaking the branch in two nonchalantly. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. It was wrong of me."

She shyly looked up at him, noticing that his deep blue eyes truly held sorrow for raising his voice to her. "It's okay, Naruto. I'm sorry, too. I'm just sick of Kichi crying."

Silence overtook them, except for the infant screeching and the wind howling outside and Naruto breaking the branch to manageable pieces. He took the drier parts and set them nearby as he arranged the sticks for a fire.

"You don't happen to have a match on you?"

"Wet."

"Flint?"

"In my pack."

He rubbed his nose in thought. "I'll try a small fire jutsu Kakashi-sensei taught me."

Naruto snapped his tan fingers, pushing chakra to his fingertip like Kakashi had explained.

Only a spark.

"You can do it, Naruto," Sakura whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder. She smiled warmly at him, encouraging to try again.

Furrowing his brow in concentration, he tried again, this time igniting a small flame on his index finger. He grinned in triumph, his impossibly blue eyes shinning with joy. Quickly, Naruto put his finger to the pile of twigs and blew lightly to get the fire going.

Sakura grinned at his success. "Good job, Naruto!" But then she frowned as the baby still cried. "I think she's hungry..."

"Aren't we all?" Naruto retorted as he searched his pants pockets for something to eat. "I've got a ration bar, if that helps at all."

"Kichi can't eat that!" she yelled at him, appalled that he could think that a baby- without teeth!- could chew something as disgusting as that.

Naruto quickly shook his head. "I meant for you, Sakura-chan."

Her features softened at this. "No, Naruto... I can't take your food. You were smart enough to carry some in your pocket-"

"You don't _have_ pockets, Sakura," he interrupted with a toothy smile as he pushed the ration bar into her hands. A thought crossed his mind and his face brightened as he watched her peel the wrapping away. "Hey, didn't you put its bottle in your medical pouch? You still have that, don't you?"

Realization dawned on the girl and she hastily dug her hand through her medicine pouch with the ration bar caught between her teeth. Her fingers ghosted over a plastic bottle and she smiled happily as she brought it out.

"Is this what you want, Kichi-chan?" Sakura asked, waving the bottle in front of the baby after laying down the ration bar.

The baby's cries quieted, but only somewhat.

Naruto took the bottle from her outstretched hand and held it over the fire, switching hands when the heat became unbearable. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Sakura hesitantly chewed on the food he had given her.

"Think it will finally quiet down?"

Sakura shot a glare at the blond. "The baby's name is Kichi, Naruto. And a girl. Not an 'it'."

Naruto frowned back at her. "For all I care, that baby could be a bundle of ash. It's annoying."

"Don't say that!"

"But it's true!"

"Show some respect for the daimyo's cousin!"

"It's only a baby! She won't care either- OUCH!"

He dropped the bottle and grabbed his left hand where the fire had mercilessly licked it when he wasn't paying attention. Ignoring the pain, however, he picked up the bottle and handed it to Sakura.

"Sorry, Naruto. I-"

"Stop saying sorry," he grumbled back as he nursed his sore wrist. He added a part of the branch to the fire. "Just make the baby shut up."

Sakura gently fed the baby, watching her teammate with worried green eyes. She had to agree, though; the baby was getting annoying, and she could only take so much of the crying. She wetted her dry lips and opened her mouth, then shut it again. Would it annoy Naruto?

Ah, what the heck. He could leave if he didn't like it.

"Nighttime has come," she sang, her voice a little shaky. "Gone is the sun, dream sky is spun."

Naruto stiffened, eyes wide, at her sweet voice. Something clenched painfully in his chest, and he clutched at the spot his heart might be.

At least the baby had quieted.

Sakura watched her teammate as she continued singing. He hadn't left, but he hadn't moved, either.

It scared her, to see how stiff he was. But at least the baby was quieting.

Then the cave was quiet, save for the crackling of the flames.

Gently, Sakura laid the baby down and reached out to Naruto. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

He gulped, trying to compose himself. "What was that?" he managed to croak out through the lump in his throat.

"It was a lullaby," she answered. She was most certainly confused at her friend's behavior.

"What's that?"

Sakura struggled for words. "It's... to get a child to sleep. _Surely_ you should-"

No. He wouldn't.

Naruto saw the sympathy in her eyes and turned away sharply. "_Don't_-"

"Naruto-"

"Sakura-"

"You'll wake the baby."

Silence again.

Quietly, Sakura started humming the tune to the lullaby. She settled back against the blanket beside the baby and stroked the soft cheek, watching Naruto from the corner of her eye. He had stiffened again, watching her in what looked like horror.

This greatly confused the teen.

"Stop," he ordered, standing up and backing away from her. "Don't do that."

She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Why?"

"It makes my chest hurt," he replied, clutching at his chest again. "Right here. Just... Don't do it again. Make that noise again, I mean."

This hurt Sakura, and she wanted desperately to ask why, _why_, it hurt her teammate so much. "Naruto, I-"

"Is that what I'm missing?" he asked quietly, cutting her off. "When you started... doing that... it made me realize that I had a piece of myself missing. What is that? _Why _is that?"

Sakura really, truly, did not know how to answer that. "I... I don't know how to answer that, Naruto."

He narrowed his darkened blue eyes at her, as if second guessing her words. "You should know," he accused her. He gulped, feeling guilty almost at once, but he knew what he had said was right.

And he knew that she knew he was right.

Sakura sighed and turned away from the harsh gaze. She didn't say anything to her teammate, instead choosing to lay down and pretend to sleep.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Naruto backed away towards the entrance of the cave, further from the warmth of the fire, further from Sakura's comforting presence. He'd take watch all night, just for her. He knew it wasn't healthy, but that didn't matter. He'd still be okay if there were any fights tomorrow- he'd run through most of the Fourth Great Ninja War with little to no sleep, so how was this different?

Naruto turned when he felt water splash at the uncovered part of his legs; he was at the opening of the cave. Shuffling back into the cave a ways so he wouldn't get wet, he finally turned to face the entrance to watch for anyone stupid enough to cross his path.

The lullaby bounced around in his head still, making his heart ache dully. It was wrong to tell her not to do that anymore, but he had the right.

Right?

He cast his cerulean orbs back towards where his partner lay, preoccupied by now with dreams, most likely.

At least the baby was quiet, and that was all he wanted.

And for the headache to go away.

He took one last glance at his crush and smiled sadly. He would say he was sorry tomorrow, he decided. "If I don't freeze to death first."


End file.
